From Day one, DSM was destined to evolve. The mining concessions it received
from the Dutch government did not yield lucrative, first-rate coal, so the
company’s scientists soon learned how to make the most of seemingly
unpromising materials.
The coal was used to make coke, hydrogen released in the process was combined
with nitrogen from the atmosphere to produce ammonia, and the ammonia was used
to make artificial fertilizer. This was such a success that, by 1950, DSM had
become one of the world’s leading manufacturers of this product and
agrochemicals in general.
Meanwhile, to counterbalance the cyclical effects of the fertilizer market,
the company broadened its chemicals portfolio, exploiting other by-products of
the coking process to make raw materials for the food industry (colorants) and
for synthetic resins, yarns and fibers.
By 1958, chemicals already accounted for one-third of DSM’s turnover. The
discovery, a year later, of large reserves of natural gas in the Netherlands
would soon seal the fate of coal mining in the country and accelerate DSM
towards its next phase of evolution…
